England today slumped to one of their heaviest defeats in a one-day international after being trounced by 158 runs against India in the opener to the seven-match series.
Chasing India's daunting total of 387 for five after Yuvraj Singh hit a brilliant 138 off only 78 balls, England were dismissed for 229 despite Kevin Pietersen's battling 63 and a half-century from Ravi Bopara.
England narrowly avoided overhauling their heaviest ever defeat batting second in a one-day international, surpassing the 165-run losses against West Indies in St Vincent 14 years ago and Pakistan at Karachi in 2005.
"If you stand and watch an innings like Yuvraj played and Sehwag you have just got to take your hat off to the way they played," captain Pietersen told Sky Sports 1. "It's an amazing batting pitch. You just need to touch it and it goes for four... and a bit harder and it goes for six."
Pietersen and his troops will now analyse where they went wrong ahead of the second ODI in Indore on Monday.
"We'll sit down and see where we made a few mistakes," he said. "But if a bloke (Yuvraj) plays like that you're behind the game straight away.
"It was a bit of a licence to go out and enjoy yourself. You've got to say well done, they played super cricket today.
"You've got to try to make sure you go over what you've done not so well and regroup. There's six games left in the series and we want to bring some real good cricket to Indore."
England were already facing the prospect of having to mount their biggest ever successful run chase, smashing the 306 for five they scored against Pakistan at Karachi in 2000, and their highest second-innings total of 320 for eight against India in Bristol a year ago.
India's score was also their highest total in a one-day international against a Test-playing country and the most England have ever conceded, beating the 353 for six recorded by Pakistan at Karachi three years ago.
But the unlikely hope of breaking those records looked all the more distant after England lost four wickets inside the first 11 overs of their reply, with Matt Prior and Owais Shah both edging to slip before Ian Bell edged behind for a determined 25.
Zaheer Khan claimed his third victim by winning an lbw appeal against all-rounder Flintoff despite the ball pitching outside leg stump while Paul Collingwood was then caught behind off left-arm seamer RP Singh.
Samit Patel delivered a spirited 28 but was stumped pushing forward to Harbhajan and England's unlikely hopes of claiming a victory were virtually ended by Pietersen being run out when Bopara pushed for a single to Rohit Sharma at cover.
Yuvraj had earlier dominated India's innings with his amazing display, which included 15 fours and six sixes despite batting with a runner for a bad back for the majority of his innings.
His efforts helped India add 124 off the final 10 overs and maintain their momentum following the celebrations for their Test series success over Australia.
Before Yuvraj's onslaught, openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag had built the foundations with a superb stand of 127 in only 19.5 overs, which set the tone for the innings.
Patel's off-spin lured both players into false shots with Sehwag falling for a superb 85 off 78 balls, but even his strokeplay of 10 fours and three sixes was to be overshadowed by Yuvraj's brilliance.
The loss of the two openers barely seemed to slow India's progress; Suresh Raina combining successfully with Yuvraj to maintain their momentum during a 69-run stand that was only ended when they chose to take the batting powerplay at the end of the 34th over.
All-rounder Flintoff ended the partnership when Raina guided his shot to a diving Collingwood at backward point in the fourth over of the powerplay, but instead of slowing India's progress it seemed to galvanise them again.
The arrival of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the crease signalled a stunning partnership of 105 off 58 balls with Yuvraj spending the start of their stand wincing in pain at every shot.
But by the time Dhoni had departed for a spirited 39 off 32 balls, bowled by Steve Harmison with three overs remaining, any discomfort Yuvraj may have been feeling seemed to ease with every boundary he hit.